


swords and spaceships

by xt1me



Series: Fics I'll Never Write [9]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Free to a good home, Gen, Science Fiction, story idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-05 01:12:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17909195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xt1me/pseuds/xt1me
Summary: This is more of an idea that could be used as part of world-building in a larger story then an actual idea for a story itself.Just some musings on swords in space.





	swords and spaceships

So there's an argument to be made for low tech weapons in sci-fi settings.

 

When everyone is living in spaceships having weapons around that'll rupture the hull doesn't do you any good because everyone one would know you would never dare use it.  
You could, of course, develop lasers and blasters with variable settings. But while people are great at coming up with new and inventive ways of bashing other people in the face, they are also lazy. Mankind has spent centuries developing weapons, they're not going to forget all that just because they're in space.

The old style revolvers in Firefly make sense when you realise the softer lead bullets won't get though armoured hulls like a more destructive weapon would.  
Even more primitive sub-sonic weapons like crossbows would make sense. They'd still mess up a person but wouldn't make though even the thinner inner walls in a spaceship so there's little chance of the taking out, say, the life-support systems accidentally.

Going further, _space_ is a premium in space. Any empty room would have to be filled with air to make it inhabitable. Air that has to be stored or generated. As a result, even now, every available surface in a space ship would have something on it. Even in the future and on the more expensive crafts I imagine that there would twisting corridors. As a result, ranged weapons become less useful. Also since manoeuvrability would be more useful then armour, knifes, daggers and even short swords would become more useful.  
Not even the fancy kind. Because, lets face it, lightsabers are cool and all but one wrong move in a fight and say hello to explosive decompression.

 

Just something to think about


End file.
